


Silent night

by Woolywitch



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6589294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woolywitch/pseuds/Woolywitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something wakes Papyrus up in the middle of the night and he goes to investigate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent night

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo~ just a little blurb I wrote on night when I couldn't sleep @u~ . Just of my thoughts on the Underswap bro's lives. Hope you enjoy!

Silence prevailed through the small underground town of Snowdin. All the monster tucked away in their homes as the strange weather system that occupied the Underground lightly dusted the ground with a new layer of snow.

********  
  


It should have been like any other night but somehow it wasn't. If you looked closely enough you might see a faint light shining through one of the many windows in town. Almost laughably dim and ignorable but there none the less.

********  
  


If you could somehow faze through walls and decided you wanted to take a peek into the offending house you would find yourself in a small but comfy living area. All the lights off except for the tv which was flickering images across its surface silently.

********  
  


At first glance it would look like someone had just forgotten to turn off the tv before heading off to bed. Then you would hear the shuffling of seats from the lime green sofa and realize someone was there. Someone trying to be quiet as they burrowed themselves deeper into the blanket covering them. Someone small, Someone who was normally a ball of joy and energy, someone who was, at the moment, very very sad.

********  
  


* * * * *

********  
  


Papyrus couldn't tell what had woken him up. It could have been any number of things really. When he looked to his window and saw the darkness he sighed heavily into his pillow. Tonight was going to be one of those nights.

********  
  


It was nights like these that made him wish he was a heavy sleeper like his bro. Man that guy could sleep through anything. Papyrus on the other hand would wake up at the smallest creek in the floorboards or if some snow fell off the roof. It had lead him to many sleepless nights and many sentry station naps.

********  
  


As the sleep deprived skeleton lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling trying to decide if he could sneak in another couple of hours before morning, he heard something downstairs. Their sofa was plump and soft but most certainly not quiet. The squeak of weight shifting on the couch downstairs assaulted his senses and also alerted him to what probably woke him up in the first place.

********  
  


That's weird

********  
  


Looking at his floor side alarm clock he saw it was early in the morning. Too early for his brother to be up and about. Deciding to go investigate Papyrus didn't even bother to put on his signature orange hoodie. In nothing but his black tank and pajama bottoms he slowly cracked his door open.

********  
  


The hallway was dark but he could see the flickering lights and color that signaled the television was on downstairs. Stepping out into the dark hallway and quietly closing the door behind him Papyrus called out to his older brother.

********  
  


"Sans?"

********  
  


He heard more creaking from downstairs but other then that there was no response. Walking down the stairs into the living room he saw a lump of blankets taking up half the couch but Sans was nowhere to be seen.

********  
  


"Bro?"

********  
  


The lump moved a bit before going still once again. Papyrus stood in front of his brothers blanket lump not quite sure how to proceed. Usually he was one up in the middle of the night unable to sleep he had never seen Sans do anything like this in the past.

********  
  


"You're up late." Papyrus observed sitting on the clear side of the sofa.

********  
  


No movement this time just silence.

********  
  


"You ok bro?"

********  
  


Still nothing.

********  
  


"Did you have a nightmare or something?"

********  
  


" Mumble Mumble Watch TV Mumble Mumble"

********  
  


That was all Papyrus could catch through the blankets but it was enough.

********  
  


"Must be real hard to watch TV through that blanket. Unless you've developed X-ray vision without telling me."

********  
  


"Mumble Mumble fine"

********  
  


Even through the blankets he could tell Sans sounded kind of funny. Was he getting sick? Getting worried Papyrus put his hand on the blanket where he assumed his brother head was.

********  
  


"Hey little guy I'm gonna take away this blanket ok?"

****

Sans didn't say anything so Papyrus went ahead and shifted things around until he exposed his brothers face.

****

It was unsettling to say the least. His usually brightly lit eye sockets were completely devoid of light. His permanent smile Papyrus had grown so use to over the years was gone and replaced with a neutral facial expression. This was so different from the little ball of joy Papyrus was used to he just sat their staring for a moment.

****

Sans seemed to wait for his reaction but when none came he buried himself back into his blankets.

****

"Awwww come on bro don't..." Papyrus said sadly.

****

A single eye socket peeked out at him just as dead as before.

****

"Do... do you want to talk about it?"

****

"no..." Sans said still partially muffled by the sheet "don't want you to worry."

****

Now he could hear his brother more clearly he could tell what was wrong with Sans voice. It was pitched way too low and came out way too soft. How could this be the same guy who was yelling at him that morning about being late?

****

"come on bro" He said as he patted his smaller brothers head "s'no problem at all you can talk to me."

****

Sans eyes seemed to drill into Papyrus' who tried to keep his laid back air even though he was indeed very worried at this point. Blinking Sans moved so he was sitting leaned up against his brothers side.

****

"I had a nightmare." he whispered horsely.

****

"Do you want to talk about it?"

****

Papyrus knew Sans had nightmares. The walls were thin after all and sometimes he could hear the whimpering along with all the tossing and turning. The next morning Sans would always be the same ball of energy as before. Papyrus didn't want to ruin that by bringing the topic up so he had let it slide, in hindsight maybe that hadn't been very smart.

****

The smaller of the two wiggled a bit so he wasn’t talking into a bunch of sheets and started to speak.

****

"Everyone dies Alphys, Queen Toriel, y-y-y-" Big fat tears were rolling down Sans face as his voice broke "I can't save them! I can't I-I-I c-c-can't !"

****

Sans was crying silently into his hands and it made Papyrus wonder how many times this had happened without him noticing.  _ It's probably best I don't know  _ He thought bitterly as he tried to comfort his distraught Brother.

****

"Shhhhh calm down bro it was just a dream. Everything is fine. Everyone's ok."

****

With that the floodgates were opened. Sans lunged at Papyrus and started to sob loudly, "I c-c-c-can't I can't I-I-I caaaan't."

****

The sound of his crying was muffled as Sans buried his face into his brother's shirt. Papyrus gently enclosed the small shaking skeleton in his arms.

****

Papyrus had no idea it was this bad, he should have known, should have figured it out. How could he have let things get this bad. Sure Sans was the older brother but Papyrus had alway tried to protect his own little personal pep squad of a brother. He had worked so hard to protect Sans from outside threats he had never even though the little guy would need help being protected from himself.

****

All he could do now was pet Sans head in what he hoped was a soothing manner and wait for Sans to calm down a bit. It took awhile but eventually the ragged sobs turned into little sniffs hiccups. Sans looked up at Papyrus and even though his usual blue orbs were replaced with small white pinpricks of light it was better than the blank voids and for that Papyrus was grateful.

****

"Feeling better?"

****

Sans nodded and put his face back into the wet spot on his brother's shirt.

****

"sorry." Sans mumbled but in the silence of early morning it was painfully clear.

****

"Hey! don't say that. It's no problem really. We are brothers afterall."

****

"BUT I AM THE OLDER BROTHER! I am supposed to be the one protecting you. You don't have to deal w-with t-t-t- _ this _ ."

****

"Stop."

****

Papyrus' stern tone snapped Sans out of his haze and those white pupils snapped back to his younger brothers face tears threatening to overflow again.

****

"It's ok. Everything about..." He waved his hands around vaguely "This is ok. Sans you basically  _ raised _ me. You've given me so much so  _ please."  _ He reached up and wiped a few tears from his older brothers face, "Let me help you."

****

Sans cried again after that but not nearly so loud or so long. "Ok" he finally whispered after he was done.

****

"Welp." Papyrus said picking up his brother blankets and all. "Guess that settles that."

****

"AAAARG PAPY PUT ME DOOOOOWN." Sans yelled slamming his hands playfully on the top of Papyrus' head.

****

"Hey I thought you said I could help ya bro." He said smiling as he close one eye socket. "You’re sleeping with me tonight. Sometimes it helps if someone's there ya know?"

****

Papyrus couldn't see as his brothers eyes lit up in bright cyan orbs filled with little stars but he could feel when he started to pound on his back excitedly. "We can have a SLEEP OVER! not on your room though it smells like cigarettes in there!"

****

Papyrus just chucked to himself as he brought the squirming ball of blankets and bones up the stairs towards Sans room.

****

"whatever you say bro."

****

* * * * *

****

And with that silence fell on the small town once again. This time every single resident was tucked safely and happily away in there beds. In the morning two happy go lucky skeleton brothers would go about their day, with just as much enthusiasm as always.

****  
But for now in the middle of the night, with the snow falling and the chill in the air, everything was finally ok.  


**Author's Note:**

> If you want to check out my tumblr its http://woolywitch.tumblr.com/


End file.
